Since I could not have my regular Saturday's golfing with Lucille due to her cousin's Church Wedding Reception in the afternoon, I decided to attempt my 1st 3km swim in the pool to prepare myself and boost up my confidence for the upcoming YF Sea swim on 18th Oct in East Coast. In fact it was a preparation within preparation as there could be a very long swim training this coming Monday's YF class. I have registered the 3 km although there is a 4 km category in the YF sea swim. Thought it was better to go one small step at a time and 3km would be a good attempt. Moreover the furthest that I have swum was 1.9km in those HIM races, therefore felt that to do 4 km would prove too much for me.
It was raining cats and dogs on my way to Jurong Safra. I arrived Jurong Safra early to recce up the place since this was my first time to the club. I was very impressed by the big red-carpeted-gym with many brand-new machines, spacious gym changing room and plentiful bathrooms facility. The pool was so well designed and built with 2 nice kid's play ground pool. The water in the pools so clean and clear, and the length of the 4 lanes adult pool seemed to be slightly longer than 50m. I really like the architecture designed and the setup of this club and look forward to utilizing the facilities more often. But it's pity as this new safra club was further to my work place. I guessed I still have to stick to Mount Faber Safra for a long long time.
My strategy to tackle this first attempt 3km pool swim was to execute 6 sets of 500m (10 laps) within 13min per set including short breather, and apply one stroke-one kick method to battle this distance. The main goal was to complete the 60 laps; but I did set an additional target though; to complete my 1st-30 laps (1.5km) under 40min. The 30 laps under 40min is the bench mark of time trial for 1st timer in the Singapore Biathlon. I was glad I accomplished my first set of 30 laps 39.21 min.
Timing breakdown:-
1st set of 10 laps = 12.30min, breather = 31sec
2nd set of 10laps = 13.10min, breather = 35sec.
3rd set of 10 laps = 12.35min (Subtotal = 39.21sec)
Breather = 43sec
4th set of 10 laps = 13.19min, breather = 58sec
5th set of 10 laps = 12.55min, breather = 56 sec
6th set of 10 laps = 15.22min. (subtotal = 43.30 sec)
Grand Total time = 1hr 23min 34sec.
My only disappointment in this swim was when I experienced a mild cramp on my right toes after the end of 56th lap, during the 6th set, and it caused me 2 min to massage as I wanted to be very sure that the cramp went away before I battled on to complete the last 4 laps safely.
It was great that the pool stayed uncrowded through out my swim, therefore the swim was smooth without having to avoid collision with other swimmers. It was a great 3 km swim, and this will be my platform to swim further distances or same distance with faster timing. Swim further; definitely I will try, 3.8km (76laps) to be exact as this is official distance for Full Iron Man (FIM) race. I have set goal to attempt my first FIM either 2010 Dec Baselton IM or 2011 Feb Langkawi IM.
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